Elementary and Secondary Education: A Summary of the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988, Public Law 100-297. CRS Report for Congress.

Overview & Synopsis

The Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-297) amend most previously authorized programs of federal aid to elementary and secondary education, and authorize several new programs, most of which are consolidated into an amended version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). Under P.L. 100-297, the Chapter 1 Program of education for disadvantaged children is amended to update the allocation formula, encourage greater parental involvement, expand evaluation requirements, and provide incentives for program innovation and improvement. Among the new federal assistance programs authorized in P.L. 100-297 are the following: amendments in the Bilingual Education Act to increase flexibility in instructional techniques; new priorities in the impact aid program; revisions in Indian and Native Hawaiian education; revised auditing procedures for the Department of Education; programs for dropout prevention and secondary school basic skills improvement; parent education programs for disadvantaged children; aid for educational telecommunications networks; a foreign language education program; a program for education of gifted and talented children; and a number of new adult education programs. (Author/TE)